Retrospective validation cannot cure an unauthorised reassessment if the underlying defect in power remains untouched.

Section 7 of the Madras Entertainments Tax (Amendment) Act, 1966 could not validly cure reassessments under the Madras Entertainments Tax Act, 1939 that had already been held unauthorised. The provision did not remove the underlying want of power to reassess; it merely sought to treat invalid reassessments as valid by neutralising the effect of the prior judicial decision. Retrospective legislation may remove the basis of a judgment, but it cannot simply override a court decision or deem an invalid act valid without curing the defect. The validating provision was therefore invalid to that extent, and the reassessment order could not stand.

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Issues: Whether Section 7 of the Madras Entertainments Tax (Amendment) Act, 1966 could validly validate reassessments made under the Madras Entertainments Tax Act, 1939 which were held to be unauthorised.

Analysis: The impugned provision did not remove the legal defect that had rendered the reassessments invalid. It purported, in substance, to declare that reassessments already held invalid by judicial decision should be treated as valid without curing the underlying want of power to reassess. A legislature may enact retrospective legislation and may remove the basis of a judicial decision, but it cannot simply override a court's decision or direct that an invalid act be deemed valid while leaving the defect untouched. Since the validating provision attempted to do no more than neutralise the effect of the prior judgment without curing the invalidity, it exceeded constitutional limits.

Conclusion: Section 7 was held invalid insofar as it sought to validate the reassessments, and the reassessment order could not be sustained.

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